Yeah - much better to have read Langston Hughes "Let America Be America Again." as Laura (not Barbara, as originally misstated) Bush planned.

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

Or better yet - "Goodbye, Christ."

Listen, Christ,
You did alright in your day, I reckon-
But that dayâ€™s gone now.
They ghosted you up a swell story, too,
Called it Bible-
But itâ€™s dead now,
The popes and the preachersâ€™ve
Made too much money from it.
Theyâ€™ve sold you to too many

Kings, generals, robbers, and killers-
Even to the Tzar and the Cossacks,
Even to Rockefellerâ€™s Church,
Even to THE SATURDAY EVENING POST.
You ainâ€™t no good no more.
Theyâ€™ve pawned you
Till youâ€™ve done wore out.

Goodbye,
Christ Jesus Lord God Jehova,
Beat it on away from here now.
Make way for a new guy with no religion at all-
A real guy named
Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME-
I said, ME!

Go ahead on now,
Youâ€™re getting in the way of things, Lord.
And please take Saint Gandhi with you when you go,
And Saint Pope Pius,
And Saint Aimee McPherson,
And big black Saint Becton
Of the Consecrated Dime.
And step on the gas, Christ!
Move!

Donâ€™t be so slow about movin?
The world is mine from now on-
And nobodyâ€™s gonna sell ME
To a king, or a general,
Or a millionaire.

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

Or better yet - "Goodbye, Christ."

Listen, Christ,
You did alright in your day, I reckon-
But that dayâ€™s gone now.
They ghosted you up a swell story, too,
Called it Bible-
But itâ€™s dead now,
The popes and the preachersâ€™ve
Made too much money from it.
Theyâ€™ve sold you to too many

Kings, generals, robbers, and killers-
Even to the Tzar and the Cossacks,
Even to Rockefellerâ€™s Church,
Even to THE SATURDAY EVENING POST.
You ainâ€™t no good no more.
Theyâ€™ve pawned you
Till youâ€™ve done wore out.

Goodbye,
Christ Jesus Lord God Jehova,
Beat it on away from here now.
Make way for a new guy with no religion at all-
A real guy named
Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME-
I said, ME!

Go ahead on now,
Youâ€™re getting in the way of things, Lord.
And please take Saint Gandhi with you when you go,
And Saint Pope Pius,
And Saint Aimee McPherson,
And big black Saint Becton
Of the Consecrated Dime.
And step on the gas, Christ!
Move!

Donâ€™t be so slow about movin?
The world is mine from now on-
And nobodyâ€™s gonna sell ME
To a king, or a general,
Or a millionaire.

Click to expand...

Much nicer than the "Rap Crap" good post, Barbara Bush must be a real good person in her private life.

Much nicer than the "Rap Crap" good post, Barbara Bush must be a real good person in her private life.

Click to expand...

My mistake - it wasn't Barbara, it was Laura. And I was unaware that you regarded people who promoted poetry praising Communists and Marxists and black people who were not proud to be Americans as "real good people."

Ah, maybe now it is - but back when it was written, in the 30s, 40s and 50s, it was considered controversial enough to warrant Hughes a command preformance (and I don't mean a poetry reading) in front of The HUAAC and an accusation of being a communist which followed him around for his entire life.

He would have been no more welcomed as a poet in The White House in his own day than this Common Dude is now.

Sometimes time heals all accusations - as it was Laura Bush cancelled her scheduled Hughes/Dickinson reading because most of the living poets she had invited were either publicly refusing to attend because of her husband's war policies or they were busy writing anti war poems of their own to read at the dinner party.

Ah, maybe now it is - but back when it was written, in the 30s, 40s and 50s, it was considered controversial enough to warrant Hughes a command preformance (and I don't mean a poetry reading) in front of The HUAAC and an accusation of being a communist which followed him around for his entire life.

He would have been no more welcomed as a poet in The White House in his own day than this Common Dude is now.

Sometimes time heals all accusations - as it was Laura Bush cancelled her scheduled Hughes/Dickinson reading because most of the living poets she had invited were either publicly refusing to attend because of her husband's war policies or they were busy writing anti war poems of their own to read at the dinner party.

Click to expand...

Those living poets who wrote those anti war poems should send them to Michelle, her husband (Jug Ears) is doing a great job of keeping The Bush War Polices going, he even seems to be outdoing Bush.

Very Slowly and Little by little Obama is winning support from the Conservatives because of his agenda at keeping all of the Bush Policies in Place, who knows by the year 2012 I may even support him if he keeps it up.

This guy that Michelle is going to have read "his sh!t" in the White House says "THE N WORD" more than the KKK does, people like Michelle claim to want the "N" word stricken from the books forever but Racist Bastards like this Rap Crapper are doing their best to keep it alive and all the bleeding heart ass kissing liberals do is SMILE FAWN AND SLOBBER over him.

This guy that Michelle is going to have read "his sh!t" in the White House says "THE N WORD" more than the KKK does, people like Michelle claim to want the "N" word stricken from the books forever but Racist Bastards like this Rap Crapper are doing their best to keep it alive and all the bleeding heart ass kissing liberals do is SMILE FAWN AND SLOBBER over him.

Disgusting Filthy choice for America's White House.

:bricks:

Click to expand...

It's a common problem - even Fox was for him before they were against him.

Conservatives such as Fox News, the Daily Caller and Sarah Palin are criticizing the White House's invitation to rapper Common for a poetry event over the purported vulgarity of his lyrics. Fox Nation, for instance, called Common a "vile rapper."

But roughly half-a-year ago, Fox News had a different tone about Common. In an October 2010 report for FoxNews.com, reporter Jason Robinson interviewed the "rap legend" and told him, "your music is very positive. And you're known as the conscious rapper. How important is that to you, and how important do you think that is to our kids?"

Common replied that it's a "significant role. I just try to show who we are as well-rounded people and I'm happy to be known as the conscious artist."